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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Private Vs Public

I have private health cover. Lucky for us, it was a necessity (due to income) back in the day prior to my infertility and endometriosis woes. Nowadays I wouldn't change it for the world... just the thought of knowing I can have my pick of doctors and hospitals and get into the system straight away eases my mind and is one less thing to worry about when stress levels are peaking. I however made the mistake of increasing our hospital cover a few years back when the GFC hit and we took a fair hit with our business. Factoring in private health costs was a hefty price each fortnight along with other bills when I wasn't working 'full-time' but it was one I was willing to pay for. So I increased the hospital excess to $500 per year per person. My fortnightly payment dropped a little and is ok IF it gets used. I am always conscious of getting my operations in the same year so I only have to pay that excess once. Which is a GOOD thing as I don't have to find a further $500 for hospital cover this time around. Eases the burden when I've already paid out over $5 grand just for surgeon fees :O

Today I finally made it to Medicare and MBF to claim my surgeon fees for the laparoscopy in January as well as 3 other surgeon consultations I attended over the past few months.

My Medicare receipt was just over $1,000 and I got back a piddly $363 from Medicare.

MBF gave me a mere $50.00 (on a $485.00 in hospital surgery)

It begs the question... is private health cover worth it?

Would I be better off in the public system or for peace of mind knowing I do have one of the better QLD surgeons (who incidentally takes on difficult cases... according to my own Dr Google) as well as my existing surgeon who will be assisting him & has performed a similar operation on me in the past.

1 comment:

Car, we swapped from Medibank to MBF between Lily & Olivia and there was a huge difference, we went back to Medibank, try shopping around, 1 thing we like about Medibank, on our level, we don't pay hospital excess for kids, so we have no qualms hiking up the hospital at the first sign of kiddy illness.

End'o the road & beyond

Mum. Wife. Writer. Dreamer.

My place in the world to scribble my past, write my present and draw my future - along the way, sharing the road I am travelling to find ME. Behind me, the road was rocky and filled with bends and potholes. Ahead there are steep hills to climb and forks to explore. It may not be paved in yellow brick, but it is a path to the end'o the road & beyond... Destination as yet unknown.